Chapter 2: Chapter 2

It did not sound pleasant in John’s family. His father had a hoarse voice that was frightening. This time, his anger was kindled, even his wife could not say anything to calm him. The neighbors were wondering what might have gone wrong with John and his father, but it was nothing much. His father was not happy, “just look at your results right from your primary till now, you have never performed well, always lagging. My colleagues are sending their children to cheap schools that they can afford and look at you now, you are one lucky soul to enjoy all we could provide but your performance is poor.” John kept on swallowing saliva as his father kept on pouring hell words on him. “If not because of your mother, I would have taken you to learn a trade. Everybody says that we should allow you to choose what you want to become and am sure your ambition is to become a doctor. Now tell me, is it your choice or someone else’s choice?” “It’s my choice,” replied John. “It is your choice, and you are planning to disgrace me.

I know you will not make it. Already, you have passed your entrance exam and aptitude test with low grades. It is not too late for you to withdraw. Should I take you to learn a trade or you want to continue with the University?” he did not answer, he was still reasoning all that his father had said. Inside him, he thought, “I never want to disgrace my parents for their efforts.” His father spoke louder this time, “I need answers, should I send you to the university or send you to learn a trade while your colleagues are in school?” This question was to make him sober and focused on school so that he can become ashamed of himself and be bold to go out there and make a difference. His mother understood what his father was trying to do, and she decided not to intervene. But John’s wish was for his mother to intervene or calm his father. The pressure was too much. He swallowed saliva and then spoke, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to disgrace you people, I want to refrain from school, I will learn a trade.” After speaking, he heaved a sigh of relief.

His answer left his parents heart broken. His mother felt so sad and said to him, “My son, please don’t ruin your future, quality education pays, already you resemble a doctor. Is this how you want to ruin your life? This is an opportunity you do not have to waste. some people wished they had one.” In the meantime, his father turned to leave and said, “Woman, look at the son you have.” He left them and went out of the house. His mother continued to talk sense into him and gradually, she became gentle and nice, “look my son; if you go to school and fail, you won’t disgrace us or disappoint us, it is yourself that you will be disappointed with. But it is better to go to school and fail than not going at all. You will regret it in the future for making such a decision. All we want is for you to go in there and study, you might not be the best, but you will succeed. When this happens, you will be happy. And when you are happy, we will also become happy. Now, what do you have to say?” John speaks trembling, “I was confused, I’m very sorry. I thought that would be the only way to calm you and dad” his mother nodded, she understood all he said. “Okay, now I want you to apologize to your father when he returns. Make sure you do it remorsefully. Please try and encourage him because children are their parents’ happiness.” “But dad won’t understand, I’m afraid to talk to him,” he said trembling, “Mum, please if you have money, pay for my tuition.” On hearing this, his mother attempted to slap him, but she was able to control herself. “Are you out of your mind, don’t you know it is the responsibility of your father and I to train you forward and your younger brothers? I can’t do it alone; we have to play our parts for you people to succeed.” She left him and went to her room still soliloquizing. “As long as you are in this house, you must do the right thing. Make sure you go to school tomorrow and copy the timetable and bring it home. Nonsense boy, you are going to have sense.” John’s mother spoke authoritatively.

It was evening, still, John could not approach his father, he was afraid of his father’s reaction. He thought and decided to iron his clothes to show that he will be going to school the next day. His mother went gently to his father and said, “Please forgive him he is still but a child.” The next day had come, John left for school soberly and had no appetite for food. His parents pitied him for leaving for school without food.

#Valor_and_John_In_School

John was admitted into the university to study Medicine and surgery for a BSc. He looked around while walking around the University environment as well as other new students. One can notice a new student in the manner they dress, walk, and the look on their faces. The newly admitted students were walking in groups asking questions, and already exchanging contacts with colleagues.

Valor did not care about all those things, and no one had noticed him because he was not holding any file or school bag, but he walked freely. He was amazed by the faces he saw. In his thoughts, he said, “people in my department are already matured. Wow! Already exchanging contacts, so nervous to be in school, I can see the beautiful girls, nice make-up, well-dressed, future doctors.” All these thoughts were running through Valor’s innocent mind as a fresher in the university.

A young man, one of the old students walked straight to him. Valor was surprised. “Does anyone know me?” he said to himself. The young man asked, “Hey, have you submitted your anatomy assignment?” “No, I’m not in your department” “which department?” “I’m in medicine and surgery” “of course, I’m also in medicine and surgery” “No, I mean I’m a new student.” Immediately he said that all eyes were on him. The young man then said, “Oh! Sorry, you resemble somebody in my department” “okay” “take care.” The young man left. The boys around started talking to him, “I’m a fresher and also in your department” Valor replied, “nice meeting you, I’m Valor and you are?” “Call me James.” They had a handshake and exchanged pleasantries. “I believe we will get along in this department,” James said.

The timetable has been pasted. All the freshers struggled to copy their courses. A group of boys walked into the lecture hall and, and one of them began to address them, “Please settle down while I invite you to my 001 of 4/5, of medicine and surgery. He has something for you.” The young man stepped out onto the platform. “Thank you for your attention, my name is Peter Onu. I welcome you, fishermen, to campus, and I believe you know the reason you are here is to study and apply by the grace of God what you have been taught. You will become what you are supposed to be if you stay focused. One thing you need to know is that as long as you are here, you must concentrate and focus on your studies as a hunter lays still and concentrates on his game. The second thing is to have patience and perseverance. You see, a farmer plants coconut and waits patiently for a good number of years before eating from it. These two examples are what we combine to form a good student. But today, I don’t want you to be a good student” he paused. The students murmured while he smiled and continued. “I meant what I said. Certainly, good students don’t last if they don’t achieve their goals. They easily give up to depression. I want you to be a believing student. Believe in the progress you have made; it can be slow, or it can be fast but always believe in the progress you have been making till this point. Never give up, because winners don’t quit, and quitters don’t win. John knew these words were for him. No one knew what he was passing through. He began to sob remembering what he said to his parents, He paid more attention. The man continued with the speech “Be like a fisherman, that throws his net into the river, he cannot even see the fish inside, but he believes he will get a catch.” The whole hall was quiet. “I know some of you did not do well in your secondary education and didn’t even believe that you will make it here. While some are already eager to learn, eager to break records. The truth is that it all lies in the hands of the artist seated here. Take my advice; be like the fisherman that believes in what he cannot see but certain he will get a good catch. I speak to someone today, success still exists if only you believe. Thank you very much, fishermen!” He had a good oratory prowess that the students gave him a standing ovation. After he finished speaking, John hid his face and started wiping the tears off. He decided to approach his parents and beg for their forgiveness.

#At_ Home

The words of the 400-level student had motivated John and he decided to be a good boy to gain his parent’s acceptance. He swept and dusted the furniture. He washed his father’s clothes and ironed them. Unfortunately, he had increased the temperature of the iron and it burnt one of his father’s shirts. “Oh! No” he exclaimed. His heart started beating faster, and he was already sweating. “How am I going to approach my father and ask for His forgiveness?” Yesterday and today, double trouble. He relaxed on a chair for about 30 minutes trying to regain himself. At last, he knew what to do. He picked the cloth and took it to a tailor nearby. “Good afternoon sir” “welcome” the tailor responded. “I want to patch this shirt. It got burnt while I was ironing.” He showed the tailor the area that got burnt. “Little problem, I will not have a matching material for this cloth,” replied the tailor. “black should match” “Even if it matches, it won’t look nice, it will be rough work that can be easily noticed.” John’s brain was thinking about what to do next. The tailor had given him an option to carry the cloth to the market and look for the material. He thought of it, but that would take time. A few minutes later, the tailor came up with an idea to form a pocket in the affected area. “You are one lucky boy.” At last, John smiled and heaved a sigh of relief. The work was done, it looked neat. The tailor had charged him; he didn’t even hesitate to haggle the price but paid the money at once. He came back and washed some of his father’s dirty clothes. Behold 50 bucks inside. “This cannot happen,” he said, “temptation, I’m not going to use this money, I’m not. It can’t happen.” He also removed coupon papers, all soaked. At that time, ₦50 was a very big amount of money. You can use it to buy so many goods.

***

Every minute in the house, John’s heart was troubled, and his hands rattled. He could not sleep, praying his father should not notice the patched area on his clothes. On the other hand, his mother noticed that the house had changed, there was a sweet fragrance and the clothes well arranged. Everything was in order. But no one said anything.

After much ado and relaxing, John went to his father to return the N50 he had removed from his pocket. “Daddy, while I was washing your clothes, I found this money in your blue trouser.” “Oh, thank you very much, his father replied.” “Then what of the timetable you were to bring.” his mother asked. He brought out a jotter and showed them. His father went through the book for a while and then gave it to his wife. Immediately, John fell on his knees, “Daddy, I want you to forgive me” “stand up John, I have already forgiven you,” his father responded. “No, I mistakenly burned your cloth while I was ironing it.” “Which of my clothes?” “Your short sleeves, the one with yellow collar” his father was very sensitive to read his feelings. He decided to keep the situation calm. “So, you washed my clothes, ironed them, and decided to burn some?” “No, it was a mistake while I was ironing. I did not know the iron was too hot.” “Okay, you burnt my clothes because you don’t follow instructions. When I bought this iron, there was a manual inside, and you did not read it. If you are ironing a cotton material, you set the iron to cotton, and then if it is nylon, you set it to nylon. That’s how you should be ironing, not for you to take it to the maximum to satisfy you.” “Daddy, please also forgive me for what I said yesterday. I want to go to university. Please pay for my fees, I will study hard, please.” “Prepare yourself for school; I will pay your fees. I want you to study so that you can continue from where I stopped. It will not be good for your mates to be moving forward and you are moving backward. The very things I do to you and your brothers, you will pay me back by taking care of me in my old age. And that’s how your children will also pay you back. So, stand up, go to your room, go!” “Daddy, thank you,” he said with a smile on his face. John felt so relieved, his effort had yielded positive results. His mother called him again, He rushes back to his parent’s room. she said “go and bring your fathers cloth that you burnt. He went and brought it out from the wardrobe.” “it is this hand that got burnt” “where? Show me” “this very place” “I don’t see anything” his mother looked at him in amazement. Then he explained, “This pocket was not here. I took it to a tailor along the street and he put a pocket design to cover the burnt part.” He removed the inner side of the shirt and showed them before they believed him. “Okay, go now.” John went back to his room. “I can’t recognize the pocket,” his father commented. “The tailor did an amazing job by inputting the pocket, making it nice and neat,” She said.

***

The academic session had been very progressive. Valor is one of the intelligent students at his level. He supported himself in school financially by charging money for the assignment he did for people. Other students came to him for tutorial classes. He has been doing this until he met one beautiful girl named Gift. She was very charming and good-looking. A piece of beauty to behold. After classes, they stopped to chat. “Valor how was your night?” Gift inquired. “Very cold, I wish you were around” he smiled. “Naughty Boy, you wish I was there to do what?” “At least to warm me” “So now, I’m I sweater or your hot tea? This is wonderful.” She replied. She tried to sit on his leg, but he quickly moved for her to sit beside him. “Behave yourself, he said, this place is too open” “Shh! Nothing to fear or worry about, we are all mates and mature adults. Are there not people behind us” Valor turned back and saw two lovers, and said, “Oh no, two love birds” She gave him a soft punch, “Don’t be distracted, concentrate on your own.” Valor opened his eyes wide after hearing what she said. “My own! Come on, give me a big hug.” Valor has not opened his heart to love a girl like this because of the experience he had with Mboutidem, his first love. He normally tried to stay on the surface, but this hug will go a long way into his heart. “So, you like it?” gift asked. “No, I was thinking of a better one than that,” valor said in a romantic tone. On hearing this, she kissed him passionately until they almost fell off the desk. “Okay, thank you” “Now is it better?” “Absolutely,” replied valor. “Then you should respect me” He smiled and stood up to go. “Let’s be moving,” he said.

That night, Valor was smiling throughout, not being able to sleep. “This is making sense,” he said. He took a book but could not read it. He decided to turn off the candle and wrap himself with his wrapper.

While in John’s house, he was busy studying, making the night very useful. His father sneaked up on him every time to see if he was studying. John had been sleeping late; he finished his study by 2:30 am. Most times his father waited until he was done studying. This time, John’s father was feeling very sleepy, he could not keep awake any longer. As usual, he will carry a broom and searchlight looking for mosquitoes to kill. He uses this method to walk into John’s room, pretending to be killing mosquitoes but instead, have a glimpse of the book his son was studying and staring at the pictures and diagrams while searching for mosquitoes. John’s Father never went to secondary school because his parents at that time could not further his secondary education. His desire was for John to take away his shame and limitation educatively. His father had great skills in killing mosquitoes. The wall of the house was stained with blood. He became so exhausted and decided to go to bed. “When you are done, make sure you use your mosquito net because mosquitoes are many in this house. I want to go to bed” “Okay, good night father,” he replied.